


the pines, all bound by wisteria

by qelos (midheaven)



Series: a song is fireworks [4]
Category: Hinatazaka46 (Band), Nogizaka46 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26579569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midheaven/pseuds/qelos
Summary: she takes off the second button from her uniform. it glints in the light when she holds it out.“i guess people know now,” she says.konoka hasn’t been letting people find out.
Relationships: Ito Junna/Matsuda Konoka
Series: a song is fireworks [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1912633
Kudos: 9





	the pines, all bound by wisteria

**Author's Note:**

> listen. listen. rainbow parakeet held me at knifepoint and did not let me go until i wrote this. it was an experience. also, this gave me an excuse to just blatantly project my earth-shattering crush on junna. and konoka. but anyways.
> 
> title from tsurayuki.

みどりなる  
松にかゝれる  
ふぢなれど  
をのがころとぞ  
花はさきける

紀貫之

a breeze cools the back of your neck. there’s at least a dozen pairs of eyes on you. maybe more. the cherry blossoms are in bloom.

junna gives you an achingly handsome smile. she takes off the second button from her uniform. it glints in the light when she holds it out.

“i guess people know now,” she says.

“you’ve lost your mind,” is your reply. you hold out your hand and she presses it into your palm. the metal is cool against your sticky skin.

there’s gasps. murmurs. another wind blows, drowning them out.

you never know what to expect with junna.

  
  


you’d been the one to confess—you were never one to not try.

“so?” suzuka asks. “how’d it go?”

she’d been waiting in the stairwell. had given you a slap on the back. you asked her not to watch.

you stare at your hand. still warm. your heart’s still pounding in your chest. your head’s still swimming. 

“she—yeah,” you tell her. “you were right. she liked me, too.”

“what did i say!” suzuka exclaims, and gives you another slap on the back. harder than the one earlier. the sound bounces off the walls. “i _told_ you—”

you move to put a hand to her mouth. you urge her to keep quiet. “don’t go telling people,” you say, easing your grip. 

suzuka mock salutes. “understood.”

  
  


you take lunch together. 

it’s odd. you usually spend your lunches as far away from her as possible. scared that if you get too close she’ll somehow know. but here junna is, beside you, humming as she takes her bento. 

“how have your classes been?” you ask, because it’s all you can muster. 

junna looks at you and then bursts into laughter. her head moves closer to the window and her hair hits the light. it turns auburn. “they’ve been okay, konoka,” she says. she turns back and smiles at you. 

it eases you for a moment. you let it take you—the buzzing conversations, chair legs scraping, footsteps. let it calm you.

it’s broken by a voice calling “jun!”

you turn your head. miria and ayane are waving their hands. “why are you eating all the way there?”

“oh, just—” 

junna looks at you. you see it all in her face. the crinkle between her brows, the downturn of her lips. she gnaws on it before turning back and answering, “matsuda and i are working on something! catch you guys later!”

you don’t realise you’ve been holding your breath. you release it from your chest. 

an ankle curls around yours. “whenever you’re ready,” junna tells you. 

  
  


spring is soon. 

junna graduates in a month. it’s what led you to tell her how you feel, cold air swirling in your lungs. 

it’s saturday. the two of you are on a park bench. she’d taken you out for coffee. there aren’t many birds yet, but you hear some songs, carried in the air. the flowers have yet to bloom. 

then you feel junna placing something in your hand. you look down. a glove. 

“you should dress for the weather better,” she tells you. her lip curls. 

you’d been shivering. you barely noticed. this is junna’s own glove she’d given you. “but your—”

“go ahead and put it on,” she says, waving a hand. 

you busy yourself. you’re slow to do it—the chill had seeped in. you make a fist then go lax, try to get the blood back. 

but it’s for naught. all your blood flows to your cheeks. your face _burns,_ because you feel another warmth, but around your neck. junna had taken off her scarf and put it around you. 

there are so many eyes around, but none toward you. you don’t know if you wish they had been watching or glad they weren’t. 

junna takes your gloveless hand in her own and puts it into her coat pocket. 

  
  


“kono-chan,” miho calls, peering into your classroom. hand in hand with nao. “wanna take the train together?”

you could tell her. say no because you’re meeting with junna. your eyes are drawn to their intertwined fingers. how nice it is that everyone knows. how they can act so. 

you think of it. junna coming into your classroom in the mornings. your friends asking about her; her friends asking about you. knowing glances, teasing smiles. you picking her up from practice. her watching you rehearse. her brushing away your fringe and kissing you on your head before you leave.

something lodges in your throat. there’s barely any time left.

“matsuda-san?” nao asks. 

“i, um—i have to go somewhere,” you say. “another time.”

  
  


“i received another confession today,” junna says. she adjusts the popsicle in her mouth. “who knew all it took was being a senior.”

you laugh. “as expected of our ikemen.”

junna shrugs. “too bad i’ve liked you since forever,” she replies. 

it rings in your ears. it’s still hard to hear it. still unreal. still out of touch. you try, anyway—reach out, grasping, take her arm. wrap yourself around it. she leans into you. 

“we could start telling people,” you say. 

“and i stop getting girls telling me how much i like me?” junna asks. you whack her in the shoulder. she doubles over, removes her treat from her mouth and says, “i’m kidding, i’m kidding.”

“you should come to school in gakuran,” you tell her. “give me your heart button. grant ten year-old konoka’s shoujo fantasies.”

junna stares, puts her ice cream back in her mouth. 

you say, “you’re our ikemen, anyway.”

“i should, then,” junna says, and frees her arm so she can wrap it around your shoulders. 

  
  


she comes to school in gakuran. 

her hair tied low. her broad shoulders, her handsome face. she gives you a grin. the cherry blossoms blooming in the courtyard behind her. the morning sun bright. 

she looks like she was plucked straight from your dreams. 

“you’re unbelievable,” you whisper. 

she laughs. “come here,” she says, heading to the center of the courtyard. 

you follow her. move toward her. 

she hands you her second button. 

junna hands you her heart. is proud enough that you have it that she does it like this. here and now. wants everyone to know that she’s yours. that you’re hers. the same junna who you could only watch from afar. the same junna who you’d thought would never look your way twice. 

you wish for time to slow. this singular moment, stretched to eternity. junna’s warm gaze. the spring breeze, the smell of flowers. the ache in your chest, the heat in your cheeks.

you close your fist around the cool metal. 

junna hands you her heart. 

you pray you never let go. 

**Author's Note:**

> >for those who are lost, there is a japanese high school tradition wherein graduating boys offer the second button of their gakuran (the button closest to the heart) to the object of their affection. you can google to find out more!
> 
> hope people can tolerate me going full shoujo manga on this one. 
> 
> my cc as always [here](http://curiouscat.me/pisceshorizon). thank you for reading, and feel free to leave your thoughts!


End file.
